Word of Encouragement (5/25/2020)
Today our nation is celebrating the Memorial Day. It is a time for us to remember all the fallen heroes of our nation, who made the ultimate sacrifice to protect our country and our many freedoms.
Sometimes I wonder what our fallen heroes would think of us if they were able to see us from the other side of the grave, see what we are doing with the freedoms, for which they laid down their lives. We get a glimpse of it in Saving Private Ryan. As Captain Miller is dying, he tells Private Ryan, for whose safe return from the battlefield he and several others sacrificed their lives, “James… earn this. Earn it.” What a burden to live with for the rest of his life! But it was only the right thing to do for the enormous sacrifice made for his life. At it seems like the private did not forget the costly sacrifice others made for him. Our stories may not be as dramatic as the one in the movie. But we are all beneficiaries of all the Captain Millers of our nation’s history. There is a sense in which we should “earn it”—that is, to make most of what we are able to have and enjoy in this country on account of the sacrifice make have made.
This is all the more so in our Christian life. Through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, we have received the precious gift of forgiveness and eternal life. We must “earn it,” too. This doesn’t mean that we have to do something to earn God’s forgiveness and eternal life. They are too precious and too valuable for us to earn. They have been already given to us freely. Nor does it mean that we should try to pay back to God somehow. Again, they are too valuable for us to ever pay back. What it means to “earn” the free grace of God is expressed by Paul in this way: “[Jesus] died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised” (2 Cor. 5:15). What a burden to live with for the rest of our lives! But is it not only the right thing to do when we consider the costly sacrifice of God’s Son for our salvation? And is it not the most glorious and highest honor that we should, and can, live for the most glorious and magnificent God? Let our lives be an offering of thanksgiving to our wonderful Savior!